It's day 2 of our 4-day pass for the museums and monuments (and other stuff........) of Paris and we've carefully planned our day to be a whirlwind of 5 visits. I say 'carefully planned' because we've definitely done our homework on this one; our list for today takes us to several locations on the Ile de la Cité, followed by a triangulation around the rest of our chosen destinations. Hmmm, the best laid plans, as they say............
............ can be quickly derailed by the weather!!! It's lightly raining as we set off from home with our umbrellas and an awareness of the day's forecast - "moderate rain". It's an uncharacteristically early start for us because, darn it, if we have to do 4 consecutive days then we're going to squeeze the most out of them!!!
Here's our morning from the perspective of mon mari:
Our first visit is to a pretty landmark built of light rock. The first fortress on the Ile de la Cité (Island of the City) was built by Clovis in the 6th century. Five hundred years later Hugues Capet, the first Capetian king, converted it into a palace. Four hundred years after that, following a bit of skull-duggery, Charles V left the palace and converted it into a place to hold meetings, and a prison under the control of a Concierge. Hence today the building is called the Conciergerie.
We found it by accident having walked (and floated in boats) past it for the last month, unaware of it's role in the revolution or it's accessibility to visitors.
Until 1790 the seat of parliament in Paris, the building was taken over in 1793 by the Revolutionary Tribunal, and later that year Maximilien de Robespierre joined them, leading the Committee for Public Safety. It should have been called the Committee for Public Un-safety - having been instituted to act as a war cabinet, it rapidly became the executive government; determined to rid itself of its rivals. Anyone and everyone who was 'reported' (factually or maliciously) as seditious was subject to imprisonment and possible execution at the hand of 'madame guillotine'.
Robespierre argued that pure virtue must be aligned with speedy, severe and inflexible justice (terror) to be effective. He found his ideals opposed by the tradition of law (ironically he was a lawyer), and therefore argued that for revolution to be truly revolution, it must transcend even law. He instituted a decree that suspects forego the right to both defence and witnesses. Thousands were thus sent to the guillotine because they disagreed with the brutal Committee for Public Safety, in what became known simply as 'the terror'.
As Robespierre and the Committee became more extreme, even their previous supporters objected. Off to the guillotine with them. The monster they had created began to eat its creators. When a majority of the remaining Committee started to disagree with Robespierre and his young protege Saint-Just, the beast he had helped speak into being turned on him. In removing the protections of justice and law afforded ordinary citizens, he had removed the foundations on which he himself had been enabled to speak and remain free. He was seized and forced to present his own neck to la guillotine, along with some of his own family, and many supporters.
Having consumed its creator, the beast now had a plausible scapegoat for its actions - all the remaining perpetrators washed their hands and became responsible citizens again. Voila!
Being able to walk through the prison where the 'Terror' occurred (not the guillotine bits) is sobering.
There's an old adage that you shouldn't take anything to a fight that you don't want used against you. Robespierre's reforms were knocked out of his hand and used against him.
There's an old adage that you shouldn't take anything to a fight that you don't want used against you. Robespierre's reforms were knocked out of his hand and used against him.
I agree with mon cher mari. I simply find it a sombre place, the waiting room for many souls who met their ends at the hands of the revolution and the guillotine. We follow the arrows that take us through the cells and the exercise yards, we watch the videos about the processing of the prisoners, and read about the conditions they endured while incarcerated here, the courtroom trials (they didn't have a hope) and the sombre procedures as they faced their last hours.
We shimmy and side-step around the school groups who jam up the corridors and thread their way into and out of Marie-Antoinette's cell (yes, we are tripping over her everywhere we go lately)!! She met her end at the Place de la Revolution (now Place de la Concorde) where the guillotine would have been set up for a very public execution. The above blade hangs on the wall in the Conciergerie, a grim reminder, along with the 2700 names of those who met their demise in this way.............. :-/
When we exit the Conciergerie, it's just a few steps along the footpath to the entrance of Saint Chapelle, hidden from the street within the walls of the Palais de Justice. When I first arrived in Paris, I found this church while exploring the island, but decided to wait until my lovely husband arrived before going in to see the reputedly beautiful stained glass. That day there was no queue whatsoever, and I was lulled into thinking that it would be an easy visit that we could enjoy together. Oops, not sure what was going on that day, because today there is a queue way down the street, and our museum pass, which is supposed to give us "priority access" is giving us "no priority access" at this location. Foiled!!
A quick change of plan, and we're off to the next monument on our list. We'll swing by Saint Chapelle later and see how things are looking. While still on the island, we plan to climb the tower of Notre Dame (just around the corner) and visit the crypt. But again, the queue is a mile long for the dome, and again no priority access. What's going on??? Not particularly happy. Ok, but this is no time for a major hissy fit; next.............!!
The Pantheon, on the left bank and not too far to walk from the island, is basically an enormous mausoleum, a final resting place for many famous (and some not so famous, to us anyway.....) Parisians (and others) - Voltaire, Alexandre Dumas, Victor Hugo, Pierre and Marie Curie, among others.
We go down into the crypt to see the tombs and read about the lives immortalised here. This place is huge, and cold, as is fitting I guess.
Back to Saint Chapelle we go. It's raining lightly but steadily, umbrellas up, we join the queue, let's just see how quickly it moves. The attrition rate is promising - people leave the queue with their dripping umbrellas and a hope to return on a dry day. Yes, I think you should definitely take your wet feet home and have a nice cup of tea. We'll be happy to take your place in the queue :-)
Finally out of the rain, through security and in at the chapel entrance. Hmmm, is this all there is?? I mean, the few windows of stained glass are pretty and I love the blue and gold ceiling, but where is the rest? This looks nothing like the pictures we've seen. Oops, should've had a closer look as we walked in out of the rain - we were in way too much of a hurry to get inside, but could be forgiven for missing the little corner stairway to the upper level because of the people crowded into the lower chapel. Up we go, and there it is, a truly magnificent vista, walls of the most exquisite stained glass, depicting bible stories from Old and New Testaments. Our photos don't do justice to these soaring and intricately created and detailed panels of glass.
Wow, I've never seen anything quite like this. It's impressive and awe-inspiring. For those taking their wet shoes home, come back!!!! It's totally worth the wet wait :-)
By now we're just about over tourists, and we still have 2 more days of this! So when we come out of Saint Chappelle to find it still drizzling, we take a vote and the verdict is unanimous ......... enough! For today anyway. Notre Dame will still be here tomorrow :-)
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